ai4bharat/Pralekha huggingface dataset:
Ministry of Defence
Brahmos Flight test from IAF’s Su-30MKI fighter aircraft
Brahmos, the world’s fastest supersonic cruise missile created history on 22nd Nov 2017 after it was successfully flight-tested first time from the Indian Air Force’s  frontline fighter aircraft Sukhoi-30MKIagainst a sea based target in the Bay of Bengal. The missile was gravity dropped from the Su-30 from fuselage, and the two stage missile’s engine fired up and straightway propelled towards the intended target at the sea in Bay of Bengal.
The successful maiden test firing of Brahmos Air Launched Cruise Missile  from Su-30MKI will significantly bolster the IAF’s air combat operations capability from stand-off ranges. Brahmos ALCM weighing 2.5 ton is the heaviest weapon to be deployed on India’s Su-30 fighter aircraft modified by HAL to carry weapons. Brahmos, the world-class weapon with multi-platform, multi-mission role is now capable of being launched from Land, Sea and Air, completing the tactical cruise missile triad for India. Brahmos is a joint venture between DRDO of India and NPOM of Russia.
Raksha Mantri Smt Nirmala Sitharaman congratulated DRDO and BrahMos for the outstanding accomplishment.
Dr S Christopher, Chairman DRDO & Secretary, Department of Defence R&D congratulated the Scientists and Engineers for this excellent text book kind of flight test.
The missile test was witnessed by Dr Sudhir Mishra, DG  & CEO & MD, BrahMos Aerospace along with senior IAF officials, Scientists and Officials from
DRDO and BrahMos.
MJPS/NAO/SAN
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Ministry of Education
Government is providing Self-defence Training to Girls in schools and colleges through various initiatives – Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’
Self defence training is already being imparted to girls of class VI to XII belonging to Government Schools under Samagra Shiksha- a flagship scheme of the Government in the school education sector. Fund for this purpose is provided for three months @ Rs. 3000/- per school per month for inculcating self-defence skills including life skill for self-protection and self-development among the girls. Self defence training is also being given in Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas  which are residential schools meant for girls of Class VI to XII and belonging to disadvantaged groups.
Self defence training is regularly provided to girl students in Kendriya Vidyalayas , Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas  and Schools run by Central Tibetan Schools Administration , where girls are trained in Judo, Taekwondo and Boxing, etc. In KVs, inter-house competitions and tournaments of these games are conducted at Regional and National levels.
University Grants Commission  has issued letters from time to time to Higher Educational Institutions  requesting them to sensitize the management and teachers and to work out road-map for implementation of the recommendations of the SAKSHAM report on the measures for ensuring the safety of women and programmes for gender sensitization towards a policy of zero tolerance on the campuses vide letters dated 18.02.2014, 28.08.2014, 01.09.2014 and 06.11.2014. UGC has also framed guidelines on Safety of Students on and off campuses of HEIs.
The Special Police Unit for Women and Children  of Delhi Police organizes self defence training classes and workshops on the request of Heads of Schools / Colleges / MNCs/ Hospitals /Institutions /NGOs /NCC /Hotel etc. for students, working women and house-wives.
Prime Minister's Office
Prime Minister’s meeting with Prime Minister of Japan
Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi held a bilateral meeting with H.E Mr. Fumio Kishida, Prime Minister of Japan, on 9 September 2023 on the sidelines of the G-20 Summit in New Delhi.
During the meeting, the leaders acknowledged the constructive dialogue of the two countries throughout the year on their priorities for their respective G-20 and G-7 Presidencies, particularly in bringing the concerns and aspirations of the Global South to the fore.
The leaders held discussions on various facets of the India-Japan bilateral partnership, including on infrastructure development, technological collaboration, investments and energy.
Both leaders reaffirmed their commitment to further deepening the India-Japan Special Strategic and Global Partnership.
Prime Minister's Office
PM expresses happiness over stellar physical performance by HPCL Mumbai & Visakhapatnam Refineries
The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has expressed happiness over stellar physical performance by HPCL Mumbai & Visakhapatnam Refineries.
In a tweet thread, Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Shri Hardeep Singh Puri informed that HPCL has gone beyond the call of duty to ensure availability of affordable energy to our citizens.
HPCL Mumbai & Visakhapatnam Refineries operated at 113% capacity processing highest ever quarterly Crude Thruput of 4.96 MMT during Jan-Mar 2023.
Responding to the tweet thread by the Union Minister, the Prime Minister tweeted;
“Good news for the energy sector.”
Special Service and Features
MDMA Pills & MDMA Crystals worth Rs. 7 lakhs seized by Chennai Air Customs.
Chennai Air Customs intercepted three post parcels suspected to contain narcotics substanceswhich arrived from United Kingdom andNetherlands at Foreign Post Office Chennai.
The first parcel from Netherton, UK was consigned to aOoty based person, was taken up for examination. On opening a Kids Jewellery toy box was found in which a pouch containing 15 grey skull shaped MDMA pills “MYBRAND” and7 grams of MDMA crystal powder wasfound concealed inside. On opening second parcel, 50 green grenade& 50 purple skull MDMA Pillswere recovered from two plastic pouches which were found inside.The parcel was addressed to a Nammakal based person and had arrived from Netherlands. 100 MDMApills with marking ‘Tesla’ were recovered from the third parcel which arrived from Netherlandsand was addressed toa Chennai resident.
Total 215 MDMA pills and 7 grams of MDMA crystals valued at Rs. 7 lakhs were recovered and seized under the NDPS Act, 1985.
Follow up searches were carried out and further investigation is in progress, according to a press release issued by the Commissioner of Customs, Chennai International Airport.
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Ministry of Railways
Unfortunate Incident of Blast at Nimtita Railway station in West Bengal
Yesterday night at 10.20.pm an unfortunate incident of blast happened in the premises of Nimtita station in Malda of Eastern Railway. Indian Railways condemns the incident.
Relief and rescue measures were immediately initiated by Railways. Injured persons were rushed by RPF and other Railway authorities to the near-by hospitals.
It may be noted that law and order is a State subject and State police is fully responsible for the same. Law and order on Railway platforms is also under the purview of GRP of State Government.
The location comes under the jurisdiction of SRP Howrah. GRP have registered a case no. 05/2021 dated 17.02.2021 u/s- 307,326 and 120b of IPC.
In all 25 persons got injured including the Minister of Labour in West Bengal Government, Shri Jakir Hussain. Later on 10 of the injured have been moved to Kolkata hospital for treatment.
Ministry of Railways
Cabinet approves construction of Aligarh-Harduaganj flyover
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has given its approval for taking up construction of Aligarh-Harduaganj flyover by Ministry of Railways. The total length of the railway flyover will be 22 kilometer. The project is expected to be completed by 2024-25 at a cost of over Rs. 1285 crore.
At Aligarh Junction Station a branch line Bareilly-Aligarh terminates. The trains coming from Howrah side and going to Harduaganj/Bareilly cross Howrah-New Delhi main route, which is busiest section of Indian Railways. Due to heavy traffic there is no path available for surface crossing of loaded goods trains coming from Howrah side and going to Harduaganj/Bareilly. This results into heavy detention of trains at Aligarh Junction. This location has become a bottleneck and is affecting the train working badly causing delays and detentions and also reducing the wagon turn round. Flyover at Aligarh going over the existing Delhi-Howrah main line is an operational necessity and is essentially required to remove the bottleneck to traffic movement. By construction of flyover connecting Aligarh to Harduaganj the delays and detentions will be avoided.
Prime Minister's Office
PM shares a thread of his tributes to Mahatma Gandhi during his foreign visits over the years
The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has shared a thread by Shri Radha Mohan Singh about the Prime Minister's tributes to Mahatma Gandhi during his foreign visits over the years.
The Prime Minister replied to the thread
"Lovely thread, which brings back several memories.
India is proud to be the land of Gandhi Ji and we will always work to realise his vision for humanity."
President's Secretariat
No change of Guard Ceremony from this Sunday due to extreme hot weather conditions; will continue on Saturdays
The Change of Guard Ceremony on Sundays will be temporally discontinued from this Sunday  till further orders due to extreme weather conditions. However, the Ceremony will continue to take place on every Saturday at its original timings, i.e., from 1000 hrs to 1040 hrs  and from 0800 hrs to 0840 hrs .
A request to witness the Change of Guard Ceremony can be made online through a link on the website https://rb.nic.in/rbvisit/rbvisit_cog.aspx. Visitors are advised to check the website for the latest information.
Ministry of Commerce & Industry
Tele-conversation held between Commerce and Industry Minister Shri Piyush Goyal and the U.S. Secretary of Commerce Mr Wilbur Ross
There was an informal tele-conversation between Mr. Piyush Goyal, Minister of Commerce & Industry and Railways and Mr. Wilbur Ross, U.S. Secretary of Commerce on 16 July 2020, a day after the India-U.S. CEO Forum which was held on15 July 2020.
At the outset, both the principals exchanged pleasantries, and discussed the Covid-19 situation in both the countries and appreciated the cooperation between India and the USA, the largest and oldest democracies of the world, in fighting the pandemic.
The principals also conversed on the ongoing India-USA trade discussions and appreciated the substantial progress made by both sides on most of the outstanding issues. There was a desire expressed to conclude this initial limited trade package and recognising the complementarities of the India-USA bilateral trade, discussed the possibility of an FTA.
In response to Minister Goyal’s concern on USA keeping certain Indian products  under TVPRA ’ list and designating them as ‘child labour sectors’; thereby denying them the opportunity to participate in supply contracts of U.S. government agencies, Secretary Ross offered to set up a meeting between the labour department officials of both sides.
Minister Goyal also flagged the pending ‘US-India Social Security Totalisation Agreement’, which had been also discussed during the visit of President Trump to India in February 2020. While appreciating India’s concern, Secretary Ross mentioned that the statutory requirements of U.S. have to be fulfilled by India in this regard. He offered to arrange a meeting between U.S. Social Security Administrator and concerned Indian officials to discuss and find a possible solution.
Minister Goyal also raised a concern on ‘U.S. ban on import of wild catch shrimp from India’ on the premise that fishing practices followed in India were non-compliant with US regulations to protect sea turtles. He mentioned the various conservation measures taken by Indian maritime states in protecting the sea turtles. Secretary Ross appreciated India’s concerns and agreed to facilitate a discussion between the officials of U.S state department and Office of Marine Conservation with the Indian Department of Fisheries and Ministry of Forest and Environment, in this regard.
At conclusion, Minister Goyal and Secretary Ross thanked each other and expressed their resolve to work together to further strengthen the Trade and economic ties between India and USA
Ministry of Law and Justice
Press Communique
Vide notifications dated 02.2023, in exercise of the power conferred by clause  of Article 124 of the Constitution of India, the President, after consultation with the Chief Justice of India, is pleased to appoint following Chief Justices/ Judges of High Courts as Judges in the Supreme Court of India :-
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SI No
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Name 
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Details of Appointment
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1.
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Pankaj Mithal, Chief Justice, Rajasthan High Court
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As Judges of the Supreme Court of India
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2.
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Sanjay Karol, Chief Justice, Patna High Court
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3.
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P.V. Sanjay Kumar, Chief Justice, Manipur High Court
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4.
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Ahsanuddin Amanullah, Judge, Patna High Court
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5.
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Manoj Misra, Judge, Allahabad High Court
Ministry of Finance
Relief to salaried taxpayers: standard deduction of Rs 40,000 allowed in lieu of present exemptions
2.5 Crores salaried employees and pensioners to benefit
Differently-Abled will continue to get transport allowance at enhanced rate
In order to provide relief to salaried taxpayer, the Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs, Shri Arun Jaitley, proposed to allow a standard deduction of Rs. 40,000/- in lieu of the present exemption in respect of transport allowance and reimbursement of miscellaneous medical expenses. However, the transport allowance at enhanced rate shall continue to be available to differently-abled persons. Also, other medical reimbursement benefits in case of hospitalisation etc., for all employees shall continue.
Presenting the General Budget 2018-19 in the Parliament here today, the Finance Minister said, “Standard deduction shall significantly benefit the pensioners also, who normally do not enjoy any allowance on account of transport and medical expenses. The revenue cost of this decision is approximately Rs.8,000 crores. The total number of salaried employees and pensioners who will benefit from this decision is around 2.5 crores.”
Shri Jaitley said, “The Government had made many positive changes in the personal income-tax rate applicable to individuals in the last three years. Therefore, I do not propose to make any further change in the structure of the income tax rates for individuals. There is a general perception in the society that individual business persons have better income as compared to salaried class.”
The Finance Minister further said, “Apart from reducing paper work and compliance, this will help middle class employees even more in terms of reduction in their tax liability.”
DSM/OK/RM/SBS/KMN
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Ministry of Road Transport & Highways
Engagement of Private Companies for Repair of Nhs
The implementing agencies of MoRTH including NHAI engage private companies for maintenance & repair of National Highways. There are basically three methods of carrying out maintenance & repair works on National Highways. In the first method, contractor is paid for the quantities of repair works undertaken by it at the contract rates. The second method is performance based maintenance. In a performance based maintenance contract or during defects liability period cum maintenance period of EPC contract, the contractor maintains the road as per the performance standards laid down in the contract and lump sum payment is made to the contractor on periodic basis. The third method is performance based maintenance during operation and maintenance period of public private partnership mode of contract by the concessionaire. In public private partnership as well in EPC contract, contractor/concessionaire maintains the project highway during construction period.
Continuous supervision and monitoring of the maintenance and repair works are under taken by Independent Engineer/Authority’s Engineer/ Construction Supervision Consultant and officers of the concerned implementing agency of the Government as per provisions of respective contract and guidelines of MoRTH/NHAI to complete maintenance and repair works in time/ ensure that performance standards are adhered to throughout the maintenance period.
This information was given by Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Shri Nitin Gadkari in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.
Ministry of Jal Shakti
Community Ownership of Water Supply Infrastructure Under JJM
Jal Jeevan Mission  is a decentralized, demand-driven, community-managed programme and through bottom-up planning approach. JJM Operational Guidelines emphasises on the role of community in planning, implementation, management, operation and maintenance of in-village water supply infrastructure. The importance of community ownership of water supply infrastructure for long-term service delivery has been stressed upon to State/UTs through various communications, review meetings, national/regional conferences, national/regional workshops, webinars, field-visits etc. Further it is also stressed upon States/UTs to mobilize communities on a large scale to make JJM a people’s movement .
To bring in sense of ownership and pride among rural communities, community contribution is to be made, which is 5% of capital cost towards in-village water supply infrastructure in hilly, forested, and in villages having more than 50% SC/ ST population and 10% in the remaining villages. Communities will be rewarded by providing 10% of the in-village infrastructure cost of the scheme after successful implementation of the scheme, as a revolving fund to meet any unforeseen expenditure due to break down, etc. for long-term sustainability of the schemes. Provision has also been made for incentives to those Panchayats where community contribution is deposited by the community.
As envisaged in JJM Operation Guidelines, States/UTs are required to form sub-committee of Gram Panchayat i.e. Village Water and Sanitation Committee / Pani Samiti/ User Group etc. with at least 50% women members to ensure community participation. Margdarshika for Gram Panchayats & VWSCs has been shared with States/ UTs, to facilitate planning & implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission in villages.
JJM Operational Guidelines also envisages preparation of Village Action Plan  by Gram Panchayat or its sub-committee with support from Implementation Support Agencies , Public Health Engineering / Rural Water Supply Department, District Water and Sanitation Mission  based on baseline survey, resource mapping and felt needs of the village community. This ensures the involvement of communities right from the beginning.
Further, community stakeholders are also trained on their involvement at various stages of implementation of JJM in States/UTs including preparation of Village Action Plans.
During review meetings of JJM with States/UTs held at various levels, progress made in formation of VWSCs/ Pani Samitis, preparation of Village Action Plans are also monitored by this Department. Out of 6,01,463 villages, as reported by States/UTs as on 22.07.2022, subcommittees of Gram Panchayat are formed in 5,03,594 villages and 4,67,795 Village Action Plans have been prepared.
This information was given by the Minister of State, Shri Prahlad Singh Patel in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.
Ministry of Power
Losses of Electricity units not billed by States/UTs provisionally comes to 15.73 percent
Union Govt assisting States/UTs to reduce losses through various Schemes : Shri R K Singh
The Minister of State  for Power, New & Renewable Energy Shri R.K. Singh informed the Lok Sabha in a written reply today that as per the provisional data of 2018-19 made available by States/Union Territories , the States were able to bill for only 84.27 percent of the power supplied. Shri Singh added that the losses in terms of units not billed comes to 15.73 percent. The reasons for these losses include technical losses; faulty meters; wrong-billing; and, pilferage, etc.
The Minister further said that High aggregate technical and commercial  losses of distribution utilities beyond the permissible limits leads to financial losses of DISCOMs. This has an adverse impact upon the power sector value chain, including that on generation companies.
He added that in the Budget speech of year 2020-21, Government have informed parliament that it would take measures to reform DISCOMs, and also that the Ministry of Power intends to promote smart metering.
Shri Singh also said thatElectricity is a concurrent subject and distribution of electricity falls under the purview of the respective State Government / State Power Utility. It is the responsibility of distribution licensees to take necessary steps for reducing the AT&C losses in their system.However,Government of India is assisting states/ utilities to achieve this objective by launching various schemes, which include Integrated Power Development Scheme , DeenDayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana  and UjwalDiscom Assurance Yojana , to enable States to improve their Distribution infrastructure and systems so that AT&C losses are reduced. Under IPDS/DDUGJY, technical loss reduction measures such as creation /augmentation of sub-transmission &distribution infrastructure; metering of distribution transformers/feeders/ consumers; underground  cabling; aerial bunched  cables; and, IT enablement of distribution infrastructure have been envisaged.
Ministry of Coal
Details of Coal Royalty to States
Royalty is paid directly by coal companies to the concerned coal bearing States. Central government has no role in collection of royalty. As per the data presently available, year wise royalty paid by coal companies to states during the last 3 years State-wise is as follows:
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Royalty Paid by Coal Companies to the States 
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2019-20
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2020-21
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2021-22
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Chhattisgarh
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2350.21
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2292.88
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2386.29
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Jharkhand
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3211.03
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2879.95
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3623.49
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Odisha
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2139.45
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1519.31
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2700.21
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Madhya Pradesh
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2069.38
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3199.42
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2709.77
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Maharashtra
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1198.8
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1153.85
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1753.34
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Telangana
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1537.36
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1429.74
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250
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West Bengal
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18.96
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12.64
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15.96
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Assam
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31.34
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5.89
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0
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Uttar Pradesh
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406.39
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638.23
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475.25
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Total
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12962.92
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13131.91
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13914.31
This information was given by Union Minister of Coal, Mines and Parliamentary Affairs Shri Pralhad Joshi in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.